KATE, SEPARATED FROM THE GROUP AGAIN, WISHES SHE HAD NOT SCOFFED AT THE IDEA OF A LINE BUDDY: I suppose that if you're responsible for a six-year epic sci-fi mystery with an ever-proliferating ensemble cast, you'll eventually get tired of writing for them. So you kill them with nosebleeds, with time-confused mom-on-son murder, with live burial, with Keamycide. Those that have tenure get a better deal, though -- a character reboot. Broken, flailing Locke becomes the island Macbeth. Dull, maternal Claire becomes crazy Nouveausseau. When Sayid protested, early in this episode, that he is a good person, I mentally fast-forwarded through an entire episode of Sayid redemption, donned flannel pajamas, drank some warm milk, and fell asleep to a thought balloon of fluffy lambs jumping over a sawn log. Surprise -- the show I watched was better than the one I imagined, not just because of the plot twist, but because of the quiet, expert delivery.
But: is an Iraqi accent, or a pan-Arab one, the most difficult to fake? This episode had all three Jarrahs sounding like The Max Fischer Players Present: Lawrence of Araby.
On another note, I was trying to figure out why I think Hiro Sanada is so effective as Dogen. I think it's because he is done up so much like Toshiro Mifune in Seven Samurai, with the topknotish ponytail and the beard and the raggedy clothes, that he makes me instantly melancholy.
